Helper Hanna!

Is there anything wrong with this picture?? The answer is NO!! Because my seven year old was actually helping! Whether or not the dishwasher can close is not the point, but rather the fact that it is very possible that I am not the only one that can clean up around our house! She wanted to make a smoothie and told her it was not possible to do this until we cleaned the kitchen, next thing I knew it was done! (to the best of her ability) So I had to document and share with the world!! Way to Go Hanna!!

Wow! I know everyone is shocked I'm finally posting, but we've been a slight bit busy!! The last day of my school is tomorrow, so end of the year business has taken over our lives! So I promise more posts will follow soon....Last weekend was Spring Fest which is a big celebration in Moses Lake. We participated with demonstrations with our gymnasts (which way cute pictures of the girls will be posted soon) and attending the moonlight parade-which the girls cleaned house in the collecting candy department, and as you can see by the pictures we went to the carnival. Well, the first picture is a picture of our "daredevil" Piper trying to get away from Brandon picking her up because she wanted to continue the ride!! She was braver than any of our kids and even went on the roller coaster which even I thought was a little crazy for her! Everyone watching her being jerked around couldn't believe she didn't end up screaming! The second picture is Alizah and Hanna. Hanna is very careful about what she will go on and Alizah is just in between and will lead or follow! The girls can't wait until the fair to ride more rides and we will learn our lesson and buy arm bands this time because we forget that three kids mean more money and more tickets!

I have not done anything exciting like tee-peeing people's houses, dresses up in costumes, etc., so I had to post something as exciting as a "fishing dog"! Yes, our dog Izzy has many wonderful talents. She can fetch, sit, speak, and even fish!! We caught her bringing us carp a few days ago from our creek. The creek is really high right now and it spills up into our yard, so the dogs are loving the adventures of chasing the ducks and now their new hobby of carp catching! She's caught five of them so far. I cannot say for sure if they are exactly alive when she catches them. I've only physically seen her coming up out of the creek with them. I haven't actually seen the complete "catch". We did see the eyes and gills move on one. Alizah got a kick out of that! Anyway we are enjoying the dead, rotting fish smell that has set up residence by our swingset! Hopefully the creek goes down soon, or maybe we need to get some better dog food!

Here are my beautiful children!! Hanna, Alizah and Piper got their pictures taken when Jenn from J. Olson Photography came to my school last week to do our school pictures. She is so wonderful! Piper was the one not in the mood on this day. It's usually Alizah, but she's warming up to Jenn-a little too much. Today was gymnastics pictures and Jenn said she kept running in the picture room and said "Take my picture!" and then a few minutes later, "Ok, now take my picture when I do this" and would pose... Piper's shirt in the above picture is just her personality. She's our "chatter box". I had to buy it! She jabbers all the time. We're not sure all the time what she is saying! I love these pictures!!

Here's the pictures of the butterflies-oh yes in my next post I spell butterflies wrong like three times, my only defense is I've been since 5:00 and I'm already running a little slow.....You can also see their cocoons, and the flowers that we added sugar water to to fee them.

Oh my Gosh Butterflys!! Actually this isn't Piper's Oh My Gosh face, this was her "Cheese" for a picture face. I don't know what was up with the face, but she did it everytime I took a picture!! It was hilarious! Ok, so Hanna, the scientist, got an empty butterfly habitat for her birthday. We sent away for caterpillars and raised five butterflys 2 weeks later! It was so exciting. Brandon thought for sure we had killed them, but one morning Alizah started screaming (this is not unusual), but we followed her screams to the three butterflys that were flying around. The next one came when we weren't looking a few minutes later, and the fifth one was born at school during mom's show and tell time. Great scientist fun!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Happy Mother's Day Everyone!! These are Sunday's church pictures. All my beautiful reasons I'm a mother showcased here! I loved their white dresses and they all looked so innocent and perfect... They even let me do their hair without too many screams. Alizah did add the blue bow to her pigtails and the dark navy shoes instead of the white sandals, but that's why I love her so I didn't mind. It was a busy mother's day, with making Korbi's blessing dessert (that was soo yummy! Thanks Megan for the Mtn. Dew apple dessert-so many compliments. I got invited over to houses as long as the dessert came with me!), and then the blessing sacrament mtg. and then rushing to our ward so I could lead the music for the primary program, then back to Korbi's dinner. It was fun to see all the family. Hanna missed out. You can't tell from the picture (yeah for drugs!), but she ran a high fever all weekend that needed motrin every 4 hours. She just slept through the swimming and playing. It was so sad. She only sees her cousins a few times a year. I'm not sure what is going on with her. She has done this about four times already this year-the high fever and no other symptoms...We miserably wait it out, then it goes away after 4-5 days. OK back to why I love being a mother. It's good for me to write about it and bring back into the reality of motherhood instead of the whirlwind that I seem to be in daily....So reasons here......
1. I love the hugs, kisses, and cuddles.
2. Hearing them say I love you. Piper said it for the first time last week.
3. Teaching my girls in pre-school and kindergarten.
4. Reading books to them.
5. Watching them play make believe.
6. Seeing them learn new things.
7. Knowing that they need me and more than that- want me by them.
8. Dressing them up and doing their hair.
9. Listening to them sing.
10. Taking them to the theatre.
11. Listening to their prayers.
12. Watching them being tickled by their daddy.
13. Giving birth and holding each of them for the first time.
14. The late nights all alone just watching them sleep.

I really could go on. But the quiet reflection is over, as I hear screams (which I love...) coming from upstairs. I think someone just found money from the tooth fairy!! We'll see how much time has changed from when I found a quarter under my pillow.....

IT HAPPENED!! Hanna finally lost her tooth today... we had barely finished talking
about how she couldn't take doing the tying to the doorhandle deal and she was walking down the hallway, turned back towards me and showed me her tooth in her hand! But then the horror of the blood in the mouth came-not from Hanna, but from Alizah, who started freaking out about not wanting to lose a tooth and not wanting the blood!! So Dad told her to brush her teeth all the time, so they won't be wiggly. Good thinking Brandon, cuz she ran and got her toothbrush and scrubbed good! So we'll see what the tooth fairy brings tonight!!

Hanna's loose tooth is FINALLY here!! She is the LAST one of her friends, even those that are only 5 and 6, that has a loose tooth. And let me tell you, it has been devastating!! She used to ask everyday, "Is my tooth loose?". Then she kindof got tired of asking after a year and she now has one!! Her "grown-up" tooth is already up an pushing the other one forward, but not fast enough. She thinks she is going to brave and wants to pull it out, but we even get out the string to tie it to the door and she panics. So we are leaving it to her SLOW body clock and letting it fall out itself. We'll keep you posted!!

STATE PICTURES!! My friend Erica e-mailed me some pictures of Hanna at state. The top two are of her little group that she has trained with all year. The bottom one is their march-in line up. There were four little ones that started the season really late and barely learned their skills in time to compete. Near the end they really started to shine. It makes me excited to start next year! I look at these pictures and think about when they are older and will look back at their "first meet". I hope their enthusiasm continues through the summer. Congratulations Hanna!!

"I just wanna be a Hot Shot"..... Piper wants to follow in her sister's footsteps so badly. Whenever she wears a leo/swimsuit she says "Hot Shots" and does her kicks, Ta Das, and donkey kicks. She's not in a gymnastic class but sure watches alot!! She loves to play on the bars and "jump high" on the tramp. The two older girls are gone to school this morning and Piper cried and cried when they left. So I thought I'd better do a tribute to poor Piper let home alone with grumpy old mom! We did go out and swing and "jump high", so life can't be that bad!

Question of the day.... HOW MUCH CAN YOU SELL A KID FOR?? Well, according to Hanna each kid is worth a different amount. This is my conversation with Hanna last night. Now, mind you it is 10:30 at night and I am supposedly being "mean" because I'm trying to get them all to sleep. So out of the blue she says, "Well, you're just going to try to sell us!" We busted up laughing, and said we didn't know you could sell kids and then she was mad at us for laughing! But then Brandon asks her, "Well, how much do you think you are worth?" She says "You could sell me for $2000.00, Alizah's only a $1.00, and Piper is $3000.00 because she's your favorite-because at the time she was the one who was on my lap...." So after we assured her that we've invested much more than that already and we can't afford to sell her, she settled down into a peaceful sleep! So I guess if anyone has any money lying around I might "RENT" them out for awhile, but no I wouldn't sell them!! I love the hugs and kisses too much. So story on above pictures-
My mom had to fly out at 12:20 and High School Musical didn't start until 7:30, so instead of shopping (much to everyone's dismay) Janell and I took the kids to Riverfront Park in Spokane. We rode the train, watched the waterfalls, and cried about the wagon/slide being under construction. It was a fun and tiring afternoon that we finished off with dinner at mom's favorite resteraunt, Tomato Street, and then the play. The bottom picture is of Alizah's sister....no it is not Hanna or Piper, but Auna, her very best friend ever! They love each other so much and call each other sister. A few weeks ago, I bought Alizah clothes and gave them to Auna to give to Alizah just so she would wear them!!

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL NIGHT!! Wow we were so excited to go to Spokane to the play. My friend Jenn gave us tickets for Christmas and finally the date came. As the lights went down, all the kids cheered in anticipation. I hadn't seen this at the theatre before, i can only imagine what a Hannah Montana concert would be like, which is what I want to look for next! As the first few minutes went by Alizah leaned over and asked me "Are they real?". Throughout the whole thing she wanted to go down and talk to them and she wanted them to come to our house! It kept her attention for the most part, but it was a little long for such a four year old so late at night. It had started at 7:30 pm! So at intermission I took her and went looking for candy to keep her busy for the next halfway. We came back with our $3 pops and $1.75 package of Skittles! It was such an expensive distraction, but it worked! Hanna was TOTALLY enthralled with the whole thing. She did keep commenting, "This is alot different". The songs were the same though, because both of the girls would start singing along and I would have to try to get them to whisper. I love giving them these type of experiences. We try to go once a year. Hanna's been three times to the theatre and this is Alizah's first. I can't wait to start taking Piper too!

PIPER'S BIRTHDAY!! Finally, we were able to slow down enough to celebrate our "baby's" birthday. She's not so much a baby anymore, speaking full sentences (much to Beck's dismay), chasing after her sisters with the light saver, and feeding/dressing her own babies. We had a butterfly birthday complete with cake, butterfly pinata, and a BBQ. It almost didn't happen because I was held up at the gym with a little girl who had broken her arm and her mom couldn't get there, so she wanted the ambulance and myself to transport her to the hospital. I had to be at the hospital for a few hours while they tried to set the arm. Anyway, thank heavens for sisters! Right, Korbi!! She set up the party and got everything ready and I was the last to arrive!! Piper loved her new doll clothes from Grandma & Papa Nelson, stuffed bear from Beck & Paisley, new horse from Woodiwiss Family, and her very own panties from Alizah (so they won't fight), and doll house play set from Maimi Dawn & Papa Goose. Her favorite present was the 25 cent GUM from Aunt Kikki. She can fit a whole package in her mouth and not ever swallow it...thanks to her "Mimi"-her babysitter Tammy. Lizah and Beck helped open the presents. Beck was thrilled when he opened baby bottles! He was the only little guy at the party. It will probably be like that for a while! It was fun to have Grandma Maimi Dawn with us for the party. She was the official baby Paisley holder while Korbi did all my jobs. Well, it's over, the cake is gone (I like to take care of that myself. It's the whole reason I have to work out everyday!) and the presents are strung all over the house. Kids are happy and I'm happy because I have documentation that I celebrated a two year old's birthday with a party!! On to other things.....